Ambassador Frederik Landshöft praised the Tamale-born artist's jute-sack installations and the art centres he has built in northern Ghana.

Published 7 Nov 2026, 19:54 GMT

3 min read

Ibrahim Mahama's installation of stitched jute sacks covering the Torwache gatehouse in Kassel during documenta 14 — Ibrahim Mahama's jute-sack installation on the Torwache in Kassel, Germany, for documenta 14 in 2017.

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German Ambassador to Ghana Frederik Landshöft and his wife, Lisa Landshöft, hosted a reception at the German Residence in Accra this week to celebrate artist Ibrahim Mahama’s 2026 Arnold Bode Prize.

The evening gathered members of Ghana’s arts community alongside representatives of the Goethe-Institut and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to honour Mahama’s contributions to contemporary art and cultural infrastructure.

The programme featured a presentation by the 39-year-old artist and a conversation with Rebekka Macht, a German visual artist based in Accra and Berlin, on cross-cultural dialogue.

Speaking at the residence, Landshöft praised Mahama’s practice of reclaiming everyday materials to examine labour, migration and trade. “What fascinates me most is the way you give objects from the past a new life, a new context and a new meaning,” he said.

The ambassador singled out Mahama’s installation Parliament of Ghosts as a personal favourite. He said its portrayal of a chamber where different generations and voices meet echoed his own 15 years working in and around the German Bundestag.

Awarded by the City of Kassel on the advice of the Arnold Bode Foundation’s trustees, the €10,000 prize was presented at the Kasseler Kunstverein on Thursday, October 29, with a laudation by documenta 16 artistic director Naomi Beckwith.

Established in 1980, the biennial honour is named after Arnold Bode, who founded the documenta international contemporary art exhibition in Kassel in 1955 to rebuild artistic exchange after the Second World War.

Mahama’s connection to Kassel dates to documenta 14 in 2017, when he wrapped the city’s historic Torwache gatehouse buildings in stitched cocoa and charcoal jute sacks worked with parts of old Henschel locomotives for Check Point Sekondi Loco. 1901–2030. 2016–2017.

That same year, the Tamale-born artist joined the DAAD Artists-in-Berlin Programme before staging a 2018 solo show at the daadgalerie, while his gallery White Cube notes his current major exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris runs until February 2027.

“They show what cultural exchange can achieve when it becomes a lasting relationship,” Landshöft said of Mahama’s German partnerships, adding a tribute to the artist’s work in northern Ghana, where the ambassador undertook a working visit earlier this year.

In and around Tamale, Mahama has founded three institutions—the Savannah Centre for Contemporary Art (SCCA), Nkrumah Voli-ni in a converted Kwame Nkrumah-era grain silo, and Red Clay Studio, where a fire destroyed one of the heritage trains used as classrooms in February.

“For you, the next generation is at the heart of what you are building,” Landshöft told Mahama, noting that the Tamale spaces allow young artists to experiment outside traditional global art capitals.

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German Ambassador hosts Accra reception for Ibrahim Mahama over Arnold Bode Prize

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